Sharpener for pencil leads



C. SONNEBORN SHARPENER FOR PENCIL LEADS Dec. 11 1923.

Filed May 15, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i'N vcu-ron ATTORNEYS WITNESSESS WM- MW 2 Shuts-Sheet '2 Dec. 11, 1923,

mvzu'ro I M ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 11, 1923.

siren stares ewes. v

CHARLES sonniteonn, or wns'r :Prr rsizuae, .rnNNsYLvAnIA.

snanrnnna roarnivcin L nens.

Application filed Kay 15,

T0 allwiwm it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Sonnnnonn,

a citizen of the United States, and a res'ident of WVest Pittsburg, ,in the county of Lawrence and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Sharpeners for Pencil Leads, of'which theposes, in which it is highly desirable to have the point ofthe lead accurately formed;

It is an objectof the invention to provide a device for the above purposewhi'ch is sim ple in construction, efiicient' in: operation, easy to manipulate, and economical toman ufacture.

It is a special object to provide a sharpener which may bereadily adjustedto producepoints of varying length and 'thiclmess, as well as producing pointswhich are'eith er conical or of the so-called chisel type.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a device inwhich new portions of the cutting faces of the cutting. disks'may be utilized from time to time as used portions thereof becomedull, the new portions being brought into operation by a very simple adjustment of the guiding means for the lead. It is still a further object to provide a construction in whichfthe lead is accurately centered and" guided during the cutting op-.

eration whereby to secure symmetric-ally formed points.

These and other objects of the'invention will more readily appear when takenin'connection with the following description and the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig.1 is a plan view of the preferred embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 a vertical transverse. sectional view, with parts broken away, of the device illustrated in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a fragmentary detail view' in horizontal section of the adjusting means for varying the width of the pass between the cutting disks; Fig. 4, an end elevation, with parts broken away, illustrating the manner in which the lead is guided during the cutting operation; Fig. 5, an end elevation looking at the sharpener from the opposite-end to that illustrated in Fig. 4,; and Figs. 6 to 10 illustrate various'forrns of points produced by 1922'. Serial no. 560394;.

di fierent settings the cutting disks: and," v

stopguide forthe holder of the lead.

The sharpener comprises the base I havin'g'formed' thereon the upright standard 2,- the upper enlarged head of which is pro vided with-a guideway Mounted for transverse sliding movement in the guideway 3 is 'afblock l having atone end the elongated slot5 to receive the bodyof a clamping bolt 6 threaded in the standard 2.

The head 7Iof the bolt 5 rests uponthe upzper'surface of the block lso as-to rigidly bind the sameinto locking-engagement with the bottom of the guideway 3 after the desired setting has been made; The other end of block 4 is provided with an interiorly threaded recess in which'a. cylindrical stopguide ,8 is mounted,said guide being exteriorly threaded for engagement 'With the threaded recess. The stop-guide is recessed from end to end, as clearly shown in Fig. 2,

anditsupper extremity is flanged to provide a stop shoulder 9. p Pairs of spaced ears, indicated. at 10, 10,

and 11', 11, are formed"v upon the'base plate 1 and disposed at opposite sides of the :standard 2. Pivotally mounted in these ears by means of suitabletrunnion's are the arms 12 and 13, theupper'ends of which are provided with the bearing headsv 14 and 15 respectively. Journaled in the bearing 14 is a shaft 16, and similarly journaled in the bearing 15 is a shaft 17 to one end of which is attached the operating handle 18. Fixed to the opposite end of the shaft 17J-is a spur gear 19 abutting the outer face of which is. a cutting disk 20, both the gear 19 and disk 20 being fiXed'to the shaft by means of a nut 21. A similar gear 22 and a cutting disk23 are likewise fixed to the'adjac'entend gear 19 isidentical with gear 22, and the .tworlisks, arealsoidentical with the excep- 'of the shaft. 14 means of nut 24. Theof circulardisks, they may .be integral with the gears an'dof annular form, if desired.- The length of the teeth on these gears is sufficiently long to permit theiarms '12 and"l3 to beswung throughout an ,arc great enough to. effect the desiredvariations inthe' width 1 of the pass'between the 'cu'ttingdisks, for a purpose to be presently described, without causing disengagement of the gears.

Eyes 25 and 26 are disposed upon the respective bearings 14 and 15 with which the opposite ends of a coil spring 27 engage for urging the'arms 12 and 13, together with their attached. parts, towards each other. In order to limit the movement of these parts towards each other andto vary the width of the pass formed between the peripheriesof the cutting disks, an adjusting screw bolt 28 and limiting pins 29 and 30 are mounted on the standard 2. The screw bolt 28 is provided with a reduced inner ,end 31 which is threaded into the body of the standard while the intermediate portion 32 thereof is beveled, as shown at 82,

its outer extremity being provided with a,

knurled head 33. The bolt is mounted in a recessed boss 3& extending from the face of the standard, and the pins 29 and ;80 are slidably mounted in a pair ofsimilar aux- .iliauy bosses 35 and 3.6whichextend horizontally from the 'main boss '3 The inner ends of the pins 29 and 30 abut the inclined or beveled portion 32 of the ,adjusting bolt, while their outer ends contact the pivoted ,ar rns l2and 13. It is thus .see nthat rotation of the boll-.128 in one ,direction will cause the pins 29 and ,30 to force the arms 12 and 13 tarther apart, while rotation ,the op osite direction will permit the spring 27 to move the same towards each ether, and in this manner yary the width ,of the pass between (the peripheries of the'cutting disks to any d s r se n Attached to the standard 2 by any suitable means such as by screws 37 and 38, and surrounding the gears 19, 22, and the cutting disks 20, 23, is a dust collecting I6- ceptacle v4O, the lower portion 41 of which is depressed to form a collecting pocket, the open end of the receptacle being [closed by a cover 42, the peripheral lip 43 ,of which slidingly embraces the outer extremity of the said body and is held in position by fricio a cont her tw- In order .to position the lead .44 during the cutting operation any suitable holder may he used The holder illustrated inthe drawings is aspecially constructed mechani al pe cil Wi which the leads may be used'andis in icated'at The detailed .e g s etien of he pen l m he s bj matter of a separate andindependent appl eefi eni Se a-. N 5 3 fil d M r h 2,

1,922. The extremity of the holder is prori igdw t a du y adr ea p ti as whi h is ad pt d o s iie ylfit h bore of the gui e r 8, a n m li e m meri th reine hei lder at b ing pr vid thereonwhi h s a apted to a u the h der 9 of the guide to limit the extent of reqve e i 9 th h ld r nd l ad E h a re al eeeet eqt di manner, .o a

.derAJ contacts gthe shoulder .9, thus 1" specially formed holding device may be used for this purpose, it being understood that in either case the lead isginserted and held within an axial opening therein.

The operation of the device is as follows A lead to be sharpened is first positioned in the holding device the reduced portion 46 of which is then inserted in the bore of the istop-guidefi with ,thetip of the lead resting disks are then rotated by means of turning the handle l8, the lead being fed downwardly ,as itis cut "away preferablya nder the weight of the partsorby slight pressure exerted by .the operative. The holder-and lead .will continue to ,descend .until the shoulit- ,in further downward movement. lBy varying the vertioalsetting of -,the guide-str p 8, and 'alsothe Width oi-the pass between the cutting disks, a variety of pointsmay ,be obtained. If the adjusting screw bolt-28 is set to pennit the peripheries of the cutter disks to movei-nto close prorimity, and the stop 8 is moved toa position to permit the .tip of {the lead .to descend to a point corresponding to the horizontal plane" in which thecenters lot the cutting disks are located,' a. point provided with concave sides and a .sliarpgchisel .edge such as illustrated Fig. .6, will be forms If the setting ofgthe stop 8 1 is unchanged, and the width of the .pass between t e cutting disks be increased, a ,chisel point leaving a blun e, s a illustrated i F gwill be produced. A similarly shaped blunt edged chisel point may ,also be tormed'by adjusting the setting .ot the stop 8 while the cutting disks remain in their closely adjnsted position, in which instance f che lead is not permitted to descend entirely to-the plane of the centers of the. setting disks. This method of ior ni illustrated Fig. 8 it being noted that (this point is similar totat illustrated in Fig, 7 with the exception that the concave portion is slightly shorter in proportion tojgthe re inaining P3 1 28 than is the: .case in the pre ceding form. By setting the eu tting'disks slightly apart, as in Fig. 'Z' and adjusting the stop-guide 8 so as to permit the lead to such a point is llO aao descendhelow the plane of the of by the cutting faces of the disks, and hence the cutting of thelead has resulted in' the formation of concave chisel edge points. By rotating the holderof the lead during the downward feeding of the same, all sides of the lead will be cut away, resulting in tips of the desired fineness or bluntness may be secured by varying the settings of the width of the pass between the cutting disks and the descent of the lead in a manner analogous to that above described.

The width of the cutting disks is of a considerable extent, so that unused portionsmay be brought into operation after used portions thereof have become dull, thus prolonging the life of the device, or prolonging the time it may be used without renewing the cutting disks. In order to bring the unused portions of the disk into use, it is merely necessary to loosen the clamping bolt 6 sufficiently to slide the block 4 laterally so as to vary the position of the stop-guide 8 with respect to the cutting faces of the disks, after which the block 4 is again clamped into fixed position.

The guide-stop 8 is positioned directly above and in alignment with the pass between the cutting disks, and the reduced portion 46 of the holder 45 for the lead is made of such dimensions as to snugly fit the bore of the guide-stop. In this manner an accurately cut point which is symmetrically formed is assured. If at any time the parts should become worn so as to destroy the alignment, the same may be easilyrestored by removing the pins 29 and 30 and varying the length thereof by removing a g'reateror less quantity of metal from their ends, so as to adjust the pass between the disks to the point desired. I

Although the cutting disks are preferably disks of metal having their peripheries provided with inclined cuttin file type, disks of any 'suitab e material provided with peripheries formed with an abrading surface may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention. Likewise, although the receptacle for the dust resulting from the cutting of the lead is preferably made of a transparent material, the same may be made of any suitable material adapted for the purpose.

It is thus seen that the invention provides a simple, compact, economical and eflioient sharpenin device for the purpose intended, one whic may be readily adjusted to secure a variety of forms of points, and one particularly adapted to produce points intended for drafting or other similar work.

ridges of the in which it is desirable to have points whichv are accurately and symmetrically formed.

I claim:

1. A sharpening device for pencil leads comprising a pair of rotary cutters, an adjustable stop-guide inalignme'nt with the pass between the'; cutters, a holder for the lead freely mounted in thesaid guide and capable of rotary movement, and a shoulder on the holder adapted to contact a portion of the stop-guide to limit the travel thereof. 1

2. A sharpening device for pencil leads comprising a pair of rotary cutters adjustable bodily towards and from each other to vary the Width of the pass therebetween, an

adjustable stop-guide in alignment with the pass between the cutters, a holder for the lead freely mounted in the said guide and capable of independent rectilinear. and

independent rectilinear and rotary movement, and a shoulder on the holder adapted to contact the stop-guide to limit the travel thereof.

3. A sharpening device for pencil; leads comprising a base, a pair of spaced arms pivoted thereto, a circular cutting disk rotatably mounted on each of said arms,

means for constantly urging the disks towards each other, a guide in alignment with the pass between the disks, and means for rotating the said disks. 4.v A sharpening device for pencil leads comprising a base, a pair of spaced arms,

pivoted thereto, a circular cutting disk rotatably mounted on each of the said arms, the disks being tangentially arranged to stantly but yieldingly urging the disks towards each other, means for adjusting the width of said pass, a guide in alignment with the pass, and means for rotating thesaid disks. I

5. A sharpening device for pencil leads said shafts meshing with each other, circular cutting disks fixed to said shafts and tangentially arranged to form a pass therebextween, a coil spring having its opposite ends attached to the arms for yieldingly urging form a pass therebetween, means for consaid gears into mesh, means for adjusting the width of the pass between the disks, the length of the teeth of the gears being suflicient to permit such adjustment without causing disengagement thereof, a guide in alignment with the pass, andmeans for rotating said shafts.

6. A sharpening device for pencil leads comprising a base, a vertical standard thereon, a pair of spaced arms pivoted to the base at opposite sides of the standard, a shaft journaled' in each of the arms, gears fixed to the adjacent ends of the shafts, a

circular cutting disk abutting each of said gears also fixed to the shafts, the cutting disks being arranged tangentially of each other so as to provide a pass therebetween,

a spring for constantly but yieldingly urging the arms toward each other causing engagement of the gears, pins slidably mounted inflthe standard contacting the same to limit their movement under the tension of the spring, means for simultaneously and correspo'ndingly adjusting the 10 said pins to vary thevwidth of the pass,a

vertically adjustable guide in alignment With the pass, and means for rotating the said shafts.

In testimony whereof, I sign my name.

' CHARLES SONNEBORN.

Witness:

EDWIN O. JOHNS. 

